![]() These were found to be partially related to the Chelonoidis niger species from Floreana Island that was also considered extinct. The conservationists also retrieved 11 male tortoises and 18 other female tortoises from Wolf Volcano. Melanie Stetson Freeman / The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images file Lonesome George, a Pinta giant tortoise, and the last of his kind at the Charles Darwin Research Station in Santa Cruz, Galapagos on Feb. ![]() The new discovery suggests that his subspecies may not be extinct, and that hybrid tortoises with significant Pinta Island lineage could be living elsewhere in the Galápagos, offering conservation scientists hope amid what can often be the bleak work of tracking disappearing species. Despite numerous breeding attempts, the tortoise had been unable to reproduce. The Galápagos tortoises remain the largest living tortoises. Giant tortoises were once found on all of the continents except Australia and Antarctica. Lonesome George died of natural causes in June 2012. Lonesome George, along with other of the tortoises on Pinta Island, belonged to a species of 15 subspecies. “We are absolutely thrilled that she was found,” Johannah Barry, president of the Galapagos Conservancy, said. The female specimen was found during a recent 10-day expedition to Wolf Volcano, a 5,600 foot tall peak on Isabela Island. Researchers at the Galapagos Conservancy Inc., a nonprofit organization headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, announced that the female tortoise is a direct descendant of the same species from Pinta Island as Lonesome George. ![]() But now, conservationists working on Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands have discovered a young female tortoise that is partially related to Lonesome George.
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